Warning, this is not for the faint of heart and probably only appealing to us hard-core wanderers.

As I've said in previous posts, one of the things that I've come to dislike in pretty much every open-world game is the fact that death is virtually meaningless. You get killed, just reload. And often our reloads are extremely close, if not precisely, where we were. In my opinion it really breaks immersion from the game as if you do not fear death. One of my favorite mods from Skyrim is http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/45894/?. It added so much in the way of realism and a sense of fear and caution. I'm sure that mod will be made (or at least I hope) at some point for Fallout 4. However, even without it I believe that the effects of the mod, while not perfect, can be simulated. But I am curious about a couple things before I really incorporate this. The main question is if I place items in containers that are not in a settlement (just in the game world) will they stay there? Is there a certain amount of time they stay there? Also, if I give items to an enemy NPC will they remain in his inventory? Here's the reason(s) I ask and what I'm trying to accomplish. I'll give you a scenario of how this works (with no spoilers).

I recently did a quest where I had to fight a crew of "bad guys." I "died." Here's what I'd like to do (which is only possible on PC by the way). Go back to the place where I was bested and use the console to essentially give the crew's leader all my good stuff, weapons, armor, caps etc. Then I'd leave the area. This is the part that requires a bit of imagination as there's no way to simulate what "happened." But you can imagine any number of scenarios. In mine I'll assume that I was knocked unconscious rather than killed. I was stripped of all my good weapons, armor, caps, etc. and put in a cell/imprisoned by the crew I fought. However, I managed to escape the building but I've now lost all of my stuff. I must make a trip back home at this point (no fast traveling for me, ever) reacquire/pick up some weapons and return in hopes of defeating my enemy and taking my beloved weapons, armor and caps that were stolen from me.

Setting all of this up via the console commands is definitely possible. However, the question becomes... if it takes me a week (in game) to get another shot at him, will my stuff still be there? I remember doing this in Skyrim (with the mod) and there were few quests that gave me the satisfaction of getting my favorite sword/armor back after being defeated in battle. I remember one time a bandit marauder had stolen my favorite sword and was actually using it. I had to fight him and when I won the second time it was great to stand over him and reclaim my sword. I want to have the same experience in Fallout 4.

I don't understand, why not just intentionally save infrequently?

I'm pretty sure you can turn off most auto saves too.

Because your story is just "reset." I like the idea of having to go back, prepare and try and re-acquire my lost items. Again, it's not for everyone but that was one of the best mods I've ever played with and I want to do what I can to simulate it until it makes its way into Fallout 4.

And plus, I don't like to save infrequently because of the possibilities of crashes.

Does anyone know about the containers and NPCs? Will gear you place in them/on them still be there if you don't come back for a week or so?

Ok, similar to Everquest and Ultima Online.

That idea reminds me a bit of mount and blade, albeit a option that I never used since I save scum like crazy. Get captured by the enemy and you can expect to be dragged along in their party for a few days before making a hasty escape, losing a chunk of gold and a piece of one of your most vital equipment in the process. Or even be hauled into the dungeons if you are fighting a rival kingdom.

It's a decent idea, and I think it'd make for a good mod. If its ever made into the vanilla game in a future release or DLC id like it to be optional like it is in mount and blade, being able to reload a save like normal is something I think a lot of people prefer.

I completely realize I'm in the minority in wanting to play like this. Most people just want to reload, you're right. But the Fallout universe lends itself unbelievably well to a mod like this. You could be imprisoned by bandits, captured by The Institute and subjected to medical experiments, captured by super mutants, etc., etc. But... I digress. I don't want to turn this into a mod talk because it will get moved into another forum. Ultimately I was wanting to get an answer to my question about non-settlement containers and see if anyone else had any ideas for this type of idea.

Yeah im not really sure how non-settlement containers work. I think a lot of them do respawn, but I am unsure on the timescale. If you were to be captured by a raider clan maybe you could use the console to remove some of your most valuable gear from your character, and then add it back in as you "reclaim" it after killing the raider boss. Maybe even designate a certain weapon as being kept somewhere safe, so you can RP always having as a backup while the rest of your heavy assault rifles and miniguns will be taken off of you and your PA suit.

Im sure if you're dedicated enough you could achieve a lot with console commands and imagination, its pretty high upkeep though.

That's not a bad idea. I was hoping there is some way to make it where NPCs might use your gear against you.

I think there's console commands to add items to NPCs, so if you want you could try giving that raider boss all your gear when you get into that final showdown with him and then just pick up your old equipment.

You should find a list of console commands somewhere, there's a whole bunch you can do with that thing.